The city of Des Moines will hold developers who want to enter a chase to build out a parking lot near City Hall to some high standards.

Assistant City Manager Matt Anderson will shepherd the proposals, which were requested after a development group led by Jake Christensen and Tim Rypma and financed in large part by businessman Jim Cownie had asked for preliminary approval of a plan that included apartments, office space and a parking ramp for the city-owned lot east of City Hall along Robert D. Ray Drive.

When the bare bones of that plan were presented to the City Council on May 4, Hubbell Realty Co. President and CEO Rick Tollakson urged council members to open up the process to other developers.

His request came as a surprise to Anderson, the council and Cownie, who said later, “Rick Tollakson is a smart guy and Hubbell Realty is a great company, and we look forward to competing with anybody on this project.”

On Monday, the council agreed to a timetable submitted by Anderson that gives interested developers until June 12 to submit their plans, with a recommendation to proceed forwarded to the council on June 22.

New projects must materially differentiate themselves from the original project under these criteria:

• Primary use.
• Project size.
• Catalytic impact.
• Increase in number and/or variety of downtown housing.
• Connections between the East Village, the Riverwalk and western areas of downtown.
• High-income job creation.
• Sustainable design.
• Higher tax base.
• Innovative parking solutions.
• Aids in solving other issues for the neighborhood and city.

“No one has expressed interest yet,” Anderson said today in an email.

Christensen and Rypma, both active developers in the East Village, approached the city while trying to work out a parking solution for another project on Cownie-owned property at 219 E. Grand Ave. Knapp Properties Inc. is a partner in both projects. Read a related Business Record story >>>